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Thursday, June 25, 2015

Kentucky Bourbon Affair 2015 – Blending (and more) at Four Roses.

When I saw the chance to get behind
the scenes at Four Roses and try my hand at blending as part of the Kentucky
Distillers’ Association Bourbon Affair, I knew that I had to be there.

My previous posts have probably
made it clear that I’m already a fan of Four Roses and its Master Distiller,
Jim Rutledge. Jim has been the Master
Distiller at Four Roses for 20 years, and before then, he already had 30 years of
experience with Seagram’s where he started in Research & Development in
Louisville, before moving with Seagram’s to New York and finally to
Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. I’ve been able
to meet Jim at a number of private barrel selections and Four Roses events, but
this Kentucky Bourbon Affair offered something that I might never experience
again: I ended up sitting right next to
Jim as we worked on our own personal blends of different Four Roses recipes.

I had also already met Bourbon Hall
of Famer Al Young too, and I enjoyed his 2010 book Four Roses: The Return of a Whiskey Legend about the history of
Four Roses, but I’d never had access to him like this before. After a light breakfast and a greeting from
Jim, Al himself took a small group of us on a behind-the-scenes tour. Al regaled us with stories from when he was
Distillery Manager and how a sixth sense is needed to operate a
distillery. He also answered some
technical questions that true enthusiasts need to know, like the proof of new
make and proofing it down before barreling; speculation about whether a Four
Roses Rye is in the works; the number of barrels and recipe percentages in the
Four Roses Small Batch; and much, much more.

We walked from the gazebo to meet
with Ashley Jones, Quality Control Manager, who took us through tastings of new
distillate of OBSQ, OBSV, OESO, OBSO and OESK. Even as distillate, we could really tell the
differences between the floral and perfume notes of the Q yeast, the fruitiness
of O and V, and my favorite, the spiciness of K. We also learned about the yeasts, quality
control, and the tasting panel that reviews each run.

Al took us from Quality Control to
the Grain Quality Laboratory, which is a big name for a pretty tiny building,
where we learned about the non-GMO corn, rye, and barley used by Four Roses. Next up was the Control Room and the
Fermenter Control Room, where we learned the finer details of fermentation,
temperatures, and the magic task performed by the yeast. We toured the production equipment, learning
along the way that because Cypress is endangered, a move has been made to
Douglas Fir, learning the proper way to stick your finger into a stream of
mash, and tasting the difference in mash sweetness when it is pumped in versus
its sourness later in life.

When we reached the tail box, a run
of OESV was coming off the doubler. We
measured it at 73 degrees, with a 147 reading on the hydrometer, and using an
archaic-looking Gauging Manual, we calculated the proof at 142. There have only been a few times in my
experience when “white dog” off the still is anything other than harsh fire in
the mouth; this OESV was one of those good experiences. This distillate even had a flavorful finish
beyond the expected warming sensation.

The best was still to come after
lunch, however.The boardroom had been
set up with half-pints of an 11-year OBSV, an 8-year OESO, a 6-year OESK, and a
15-year OBSO for each of us to create our own individualized small batch.Jim also gave us the inside scoop on blending
his different recipes, and he shared stories about how different recipes can
complement each other, can do surprising things to each other, or can be
difficult to fine-tune.For instance, the
2014 Limited Edition Small Batch took upwards of 70-100 test blends (depending
on who you ask) before it was finally selected.This year, however, the 2015 Limited Edition Small Batch was set after
only 16 test blends.I was hoping for an
advanced tasting of this 2015 Limited Edition – which will be a 16-year OBSK, a
15-year OESK, a 14-year OESK, and an 11-year OBSV – but sadly, it was not to be.

In the meantime, I had my own Very Limited
Edition to create. As a blending novice,
I gravitated toward the yeast strains that I knew I preferred – the K and the V
– so my first few test blends were heavier on those components. I landed on 40% OBSV 11-year, 40% OESK 6-year
and 20% OBSO 15-year, which, unabashedly, I thought was excellent. However, I was sitting right next to the
master himself, and he whipped up a concoction in a single attempt that blew
away my blend. Jim used 50% OBSO
15-year, 35% OESO 8-year, and 15% OBSV 11-year for a blend that was absolutely
phenomenal. Needless to say, he knows
what he’s doing folks.

We ended our day back at the gazebo
with a Bourbon and food pairing “flavor wheel.”
This is something you should definitely try at home; we paired the three
Four Roses brands with the following small tastes:

This fun exercise involves taking a
small sip of Bourbon (neat) to acclimate your taste buds. Then take a small taste of one of the foods
followed by another sip of Bourbon. Each
of the foods accentuates existing flavors
of the Bourbon in its own special way.
Some cheeses can coat the tongue and mute the sharpness or burn, while
at the same time helping you identify rich caramel and cocoa flavors; fresh or
dried fruit will lead you to very different sensations; nuts can help you
identify toasted, vanilla and shortbread flavors; chocolates coat the mouth
and, surprisingly, aren’t limited to just identifying sweet notes; and the
saltiness of fatty cured meat can help you identify drier, oaky and nutty
flavors.

You can explore flavor wheels with
different foods in these categories, although I strongly recommend switching
out the cured meat for sorghum or fresh local honey, which can accentuate
orange, caramel, and sometimes earthy or grassy flavors.

Again, these flavors are already in
Bourbon; these small tastings just help you identify those flavors that perhaps
you’ve previously found hard to describe.
This exercise is also useful in creating “flavor memories” and helping
you decide on pairing certain Bourbons with different appetizers or meals.

The flavor wheel closed our Bourbon
Affair at Four Roses. It was a more than
a full day supply of Bourbon adventure, with incredible experiences and memories. This also set the bar pretty high for the
Kentucky Distillers’ Association and future Bourbon Affairs. I suspect that each Bourbon Affair will try
to out-do previous years, so I highly recommend that you mark the 2016 Kentucky
Bourbon Affair on your calendar.

3 comments:

Great write-up. That is one amazing experience. Jim is a master. I have fallen in love with Four Roses over the past year or so. I was just at the distillery a few weeks ago. I was going back-and-forth between an OESK gift shop bottle and the OBSQ you have pictured above. And, I figured there was something special about/I wanted to experience a little bit of the Bourbon Affair since I could not go, so I picked up the OBSQ. I have not opened it yet. Was there something special about this bottle and the BA? Have you tried it yet? I am a little curious to know more before I open mine. Thanks for sharing your experience.

I would have been tempted by the OESK too -- it's one of my favorites. I picked up the Bourbon Affair OBSQ to commemorate my visit and because Jim selected it. I would probably pass on a store-selected OBSQ without sampling it first, but it's easy to trust Jim's selections. I haven't had a chance to open it yet, but I have high expectations. Thanks for reading and for the feedback!